Rotary heat exchanger drum construction



March 29, 1966 D. A. COBB ROTARY HEAT EXCHANGER DRUM CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Nov. 15, 1961 United States Patent 3,242,977 ROTARY HEAT EXCHANGER DRUM CONSTRUCTION David A. Cobb, Hazelcrest, 111., assignor to International Harvester Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of New Jersey Original application Nov. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 152,500, now Patent No. 3,213,526, dated Oct. 26, 1965. Divided and this application Apr. 30, 1965, Ser. No. 461,573

1 Claim. (Cl. 165-10) This invention relates to the construction of a rotatable rigid drum for a rotary heat exchanger. More in particular this invention relates to the construction of a rotatable heat exchanger drum wherein the matrix may be secured with formed sheet metal parts in welded relation. This application is divided from copending application, Serial No. 152,500 filed November 15, 1961, now Patent No. 3,213,526.

In the prior art the matrix plates or elements of a rotatable heat exchanger drum are usually secured to a cage. These cages usually comprise a pair of machined annular rings secured in axial spaced relation by a plurality of longitudinally extending machined spacer bars. After positioning the matrix elements the spacer bars and annular rings are secured rigidly together by screws and the like. The cost of these machined parts and securing means therefor together with the labor time required for assembly is very expensive. In order to reduce substantially the cost of constructing a rotary heat exchanger drum, this invention contemplates employing formed sheet metal parts in the manner hereinafter described which when spot welded, such as brazing, forms a rigid drum structure. It is therefore a prime object of this invention to provide a rotatable drum construction for a heat exchanger employing annular elements connected together and secured to the matrix in rigid relation.

A further important object of this invention is to provide a drum construction according to the preceding object wherein the annular elements may be constructed of pre-formed sheet metal.

These and other desirable and important objects inherent in and encompassed by the invention will be more readily understood from the ensuing description, the appended claims and the annexed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top view, partly broken away and partly in section illustrating the assembled rotary heat exchanger drum of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, partly broken away, taken on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 showing construction details of the assembled drum;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view, partly in section and partly broken away, illustrating the arrangement of the elements inassembled form but omitting the matrix; and

FIGURE 4 is a side View, partly broken away of a matrix plate showing the grooves therein positioned to receive the annular elements.

With continued reference to the drawings the rotary drum construction of this invention is indicated generally by the numeral including a series of plates or matrix elements 11 positioned side-by-side in circumferentially spaced relation as is evident from FIGURES 1 and 2. This permits fluid flow through the matrix in a radial direction but not in a circumferential direction. The matrix elements 11 per se are conventional as a heat exchange media except for certain cut-away portions or grooves necessary for the construction and assembly of the drum of the present invention.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3 it will be seen that there is provided four annular rings 12, 13, 14 and 15. each of L-shaped cross-section. The inner rings 12 and are of lesser diameter than the outer rings 13 and 14. Rings 12 and 13 are disposed in concentric relation and the rings 14 and 15 likewise. Ring 12 is positioned in axial spaced relation with respect to ring 15. Similarly ring 13 is positioned in axial spaced relation with respect to ring 14 as shown.

An upper closure member 16 is provided having an annular face portion 16' with downwardly extending flanges 1S and 19. A lower closure member 17 is also provided and positioned in axially spaced opposed relation with respect to the upper closure member 16 as shown. The lower closure member 17 is provided with upwardly extending flanges 20 and 21 integrally connected to the annular face portion 17' as best shown in FIGURE 3. The lower closure member 17 is also provided with an annular shaped recess 22 having a rectangular cross-section. The purpose of the recess 22 is to accommodate a ring gear 23 having outwardly extending teeth 23. The ring gear 23 is secured rigidly to the lower closure member 17 by conventional means such as by press-fitting, welding or brazing. The gear 23 is for driving rotatably the drum 10 under power in a conventional manner.

At this point it will be observed that the annular rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 as well as the closure members 16 and 17 may be formed from sheet metal in a conventional manner such as by punch and die means which is an important feature of this invention as the cost thereof is relatively inexpensive when compared with machined drum cages heretofore known.

The individual elements 11 comprising the matrix are flat plates as may be evident from the drawings. Flat plates as a heat exchange media for drums of rotary heat exchangers disposed in the manner shown in the drawings herein are per se known as previously mentioned. The only departure herein is that the upper and lower end portions must be provided with specific cut-aways or grooves for receiving the rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 as evident from FIGURE 2. Referring to FIGURE 4 each matrix plate 11 is originally of rectangular shape as shown in full and dotted lines. The dotted position is removed, such as by a punching operation, to form grooves 32 and 33 as shown which permits reception of rings 12 and 13, respectively, and flanges 18 and 19, re-

spectively, of the upper closure member 16 as shown best in FIGURE 2. In a similar manner the lower end portion of each matrix element 11 is grooved to receive rings 14 and 15 and the flanges 21 and 21 respectively as shown in FIGURE 2. Of course it should be understood that other types of conventional matrices may be employed as well as the type of matrix described herein such as a wire mesh matrix.

The method of assembling the drum 10 employing the above described components will now be described.

First the rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 are positioned in the relation to each other as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. This is accomplished by means of a suitable clamping fixture (not shown). There are numerous means known in the art for accomplishing this and hence unnecessary to describe any here.

Next the matrix elements 11 are inserted, one by one, and shifted circumferentially to pack them in side-by-side contiguous relation until the required number of plates 11 have been inserted. When the plates 11 are thus packed contiguously there will be sufficient space to insert the final plate. Each plate 11 is inserted by revolving it perhaps on its vertical axis and placing it between rings 14 and 15 and between rings 12 and 13. Thereafter the plate is rotated about its vertical axis until positioned as shown in FIGURE 2. Alternately, one or more of the rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 may be split to permit insertion of the plates 11 and after all plates 11 have been inserted the ring or rings are welded to unite the split.

After all of the required number of matrix elements 11 have been inserted as described above, the elements 11 are circumferentially spaced apart uniformly as evident from FIGURES 1 and 2. One way of spacing the elements 11 uniformly is to insert a spacer plate between each .pair of matrix elements 11 and temporarily leaving them inserted.

Next each matrix element 11 is welded to at least one of the rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 to prevent circumferential shifting during operational use of the drum 10. As shown in FIGURE 2 each matrix element 11 is spot welded to each of the four rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 at 28, 29, 30 and 31 respectively as illustrated in FIGURE 2. Thereafter the spacer plates and fixture employed for circumferentially spacing uniformly the matrix elements 11 and positioning of the rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 are removed.

The upper closure member 16 is then positioned so that by axial movement thereof the flanges 18 and 19 thereof slide over the rings 12 and 13, respectively to the position shown in FIGURE 2. In a similar manner the closure member 17 with its afiixed ring gear 23 is positioned so that axial movement thereof the flanges 20 and 21 slide over the rings 15 and 14, respectively, to the positions shown in FIGURE 2. Thereafter the rings 12, 13, 14 and 15 are spot Welded to the members 16 and 17 at,24 25, 27 and 26, respectively, as shown in FIG- URE 2. Thus the closure members 16 and 17, rings 12, 13, 14 and 15, and matrix elements are secured together in rigidrelation to form the drum 10.

From the foregoing it can be seenallof the components except the ring gear comprising the drum may be fabricated from sheet metal'cut and preformed by means of conventional punch and die operations, and forming operations. The preformed components are then assembled in accordance with that described herein to form the drum 10.

Having thus described a preferred embodiment of the invention it can now be seen that the objects of the inven- 4 tion have been fully achieved and it must be understood that changes and modifications may be made which do not depart from the spirit of the invention nor from the scope thereof as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A rotary heat exchanger drum construction assembly comprising, in combination,

(a) a first annular inner ring having an L-shaped crosssection,

(b) a second annular inner ring having an L-shaped cross-section positioned opposedly in axial spaced relation with respect to said first annular inner ring,

(0) a first annular outer ring having an L-shaped cross-section disposed in concentric opposed relation with respect to said first annular inner ring,

(d) a second annular outer ring having .an L-shaped cross-section disposed in concentric opposed relation with respect to said second annular inner ring,

(e) a plurality of heat transfer flat matrix elements rigidly disposed between said annular inner rings and said annular outer rings in circumferentially spaced uniform side-by-side relation,

(f) each of said heat transfer flat matrix elements having radially disposed first grooves on one end portion thereof positioned in receiving relation with said first annular rings,

(g) each of said heat transfer flat matrix elements having radially disposed second grooves on the other end portion thereof positioned in receiving relation with said second annular rings,

(-11) an annular shaped upper closure member having axial downwardly extending flanges positioned in rigidly connected relation with said first annular rings,

(i) an annular shaped lower closure member having axial upwardly extending flanges positioned in rigidly connected relation with said second annular rings whereby a rigid drum assembly is formed.

References .Cited by the Examiner UNiTED STATES PATENTS 1,603,026 10/1926 Cook 165-7 2,628,769 2/1953 'Wilkin 230134.5 3,116,785 1/1964 Bubniak et a1. 165-9 ROBERT A.'OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

T. W. STREULE, Assistant Examiner. 

